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OAKLAND – Saturday marks the nine-year anniversary of the 1991 fire storm that swept through the Oakland hills, caused almost $1.7 billion in damage and killed nearly two dozen people.

In order to prevent a similar event from happening, neighbors who survived the fire want to create an educational pavilion in the fire storm area. Friday, the Weyerhauser Company Foundation announced the donation of a $4,500 grant toward the completion of the project.

The exhibit center will serve as both a memorial to those who died in the fires, and as an emergency preparedness center, which will hold educational displays instructing visitors on fire safety. It will be located at the interchange of state roads 13 and 24, where the fire storm began.

Members of the North Hills Landscape Committee, who are developing the project, wish to be able to dedicate the pavilion on the fire’s tenth year anniversary in 2001.

The project is being funded through donations, and gifts of tubular steel, as well as corporate sponsors for the actual displays are still being sought.

When finished, the pavilion would be owned and maintained by the City of Oakland, and would be available for use by groups and individuals.